The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) is a consortium of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) created in 1991. It has been awarded the “Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence” mention twice since 2012.
IFAE conducts research, both theoretical and experimental, on the frontier of fundamental physics (high-energy physics, astrophysics, and cosmology) and also in various areas of applied physics, such as medical imaging and quantum computing. For this, it integrates more than one hundred researchers of international origin.
We focus our research on the hottest topics in fundamental physics from particles to the cosmos. We are involved in the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, the T2K neutrino experiment in Japan, the MAGIC telescopes in La Palma, the Dark Energy Survey project in Chile and the Cherenkov Telescope Array in La Palma and Chile, among others.
At IFAE we work at the cutting edge of detector technology, developing pixel detectors for High Energy Physics, telescope cameras and detectors for medical imaging and other scientific and industrial fields. Our facilities include a microelectronics laboratory with state-of-the-art packaging and assembly technologies, clean rooms, a data center, a mechanical workshop, electronics labs, an optical room and a shielded room.
IFAE has its own permanent research and technical staff in addition to UAB faculty and ICREA research staff. More than half of the Institute personnel consists of postdoctoral fellows and PhD students.
The IFAE is a CERCA research centre and is member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).